| John Forrest Senior High School |
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- Ross Mars & Steve Bauers, Year 8 Environmental Studies Elective Context John Forrest Senior High School runs an elective course “Environmental Studies” for Year 8 students. It is run in tandem with the ‘Bush Rangers' program, and all students who are Bushrangers do the Environmental Studies course. The course consists of two hours in-class work, plus two hours after school work with Bushrangers, per week. The students work on a number of different projects throughout the year, including;
Course Structure Weather Monitoring John Forrest have an automated weather station as well as a Stevenson Screen, and students collect data on weather using these instruments. Having both types of equipment allows them to cross check with each other to check for the accuracy of results. The students have reported to the Channel 7 Weather Watch segment once per term, which they enjoyed as they see it as something ‘real'. Even when not reporting to Channel 7, the students check and record weather details. Pollution Monitoring The school has their own pollution monitoring kit which is permanently mounted near the corner of Broun Ave and Russell Street, Morley – this is a busy intersection adjacent to the Galleria shopping centre. Students test for particulates and NO2 . Students conduct measurements once per month to get a year-round view of local air quality. The samples are stored to be analysed at a time that is convenient to prepare the chemicals for analysis. The recordings of particulates tend to be low, while the levels of NO2 have at times been relatively high, with measurements ranging from less than 5 to 20 micrograms of NO2 collected. Social monitoring Over the several years that John Forrest have used AirWatch they have performed most of the activities in the manual, including traffic counts and car usage surveys. Assessment Groups prepare a report on their work for assessment, and are assessed on how well they participate in the hands-on activities. |
